Folding partitions or walls having a plurality of vertically oriented panels have conventionally been used to provide temporary walls to, for example, divide off two or more areas of a given room. In particular, folding portable partitions provide a quick and efficient means to divide large open rooms, such as a school gymnasium or auditorium, into smaller areas. The vertically oriented panels are suspended from a horizontal rail system along which the panels are movable. In order to facilitate movement of the portable folding partitions, casters or wheels may be used, which allow the portable partition to be easily positioned to the desired location, and then rolled back into its storage area for later use.
Folding partitions have been adapted to include mechanisms which open and close the moving partitions automatically by an electrical system. Due to the large amount of force needed to move the weight of the folding partitions, electrically operated folding partitions can cause injury, or even death, to a person who accidentally becomes trapped between the partitions.
In order to make electrically operated folding partitions safer, the electrical systems have been adapted to install a safety device that will (a) stop the forward motion of an electrically operated folding partition whenever a person approaches the moving partition and the wall, and (b) stop the partition when a person is present in an area where the partition is being stacked. One such example of this type of electrically operated folding partition is described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,244,030 to Cole et al., the contents of which are incorporated herein by reference. In particular, the electrically operated folding partition described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,244,030 to Cole et al. includes a mechanism for shutting down the electrical operation circuit of the folding operable walls when a physical obstruction interrupts an infrared barrier curtain on opposite sides of an operating path of the folding operable walls. Although this device provides protection when someone approaches the operating doors, it does not provide complete coverage for certain danger areas, especially in a critical area directly between the leading edges of the doors themselves. Nor does it prevent an unauthorized user from operating the folding operable wall.
Thus, even with electrically operated folding partitions containing automatic reversal sensors or automatic shut-off sensors there is danger that an undetected individual will become trapped between the folding partitions. Therefore, it would be desirable to provide a system and method for protecting the critical area of folding operable walls.
Dangers associated with electrically operated folding partitions increase when an operator of an electrically operated folding partition is not sufficiently trained or otherwise capable of operating the electrically operated folding partition in a safe manner. Accordingly, it is beneficial to ensure that only authorized users operate the electrically operated folding partition. Some conventional electrically operated folding partitions may require a key to fold or unfold the partition. However, such keys are easily lost and may fall into the hands of an unauthorized user. Conventional electrically operated folding partitions lack other means to prevent unauthorized users from operating the electrically operated folding partitions, thus making any included safety features, such as, for example, a key easy to circumvent. This disclosure describes an improvement over these prior art technologies.